Chapter 78: The Battle Erupts
Arc: The Uzumaki Clan
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto, please support the original work.
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In a field covered in a cloud of dust, a building-sized fiery red dragon soared through the skies as if to fly above the cloud. As it flew, a hand made from rocks tried to catch it, though the dragon was too fast, and before the rock hand could clasp its tail, it flew above the hand and hovered in the air like a watchful red cloud.
In the middle of the red-hot "cloud," vibrant yelled eyes gazed upon the ground below.
Inside the cloud of dust stood a group of people. Four of them, with one having just arrived, wore black cloaks with red clouds, while the other eight were guarded against them.
'Itachi Uchiha. Damn, just my luck. Kurama, do you think you can handle Itachi's genjutsu?' Naruto asked. After receiving a random punch to the gut from Danzo's mangekyou sharingan that one time, Kurama made Naruto promise to not get himself involved with other Uchiha in the future.
The mangekyou sharingan that Danzo stole was too powerful. It could directly override one's own will. The fox knew that the brainwashing effect should fade after some time, but before that, the target's personality and beliefs would've changed drastically.
'I can handle his ordinary sharingan genjutsu,' Kurama huffed. 'But it's another story if he has the mangekyou sharingan,' Kurama finished.
'I see. If he shows that he has the mangekyou sharingan, then I'll slap dozens of Genjutsu Block seals on me every second,' Naruto promised. The Genjutsu Block seal was a common sealing formula in the shinobi world, but its use wasn't widespread.
This was due to its weakness that one Genjutsu Block doesn't mean it can block one Genjutsu. Sometimes, depending on the genjutsu's nature, it can take up to five Genjutsu Blocks to block a simple genjutsu.
For example, if a genjutsu was designed to be subtle, or the genjutsu of a sharingan.
'Of course, that's when we're talking about generic Genjutsu Block. But still, due to the inherent nature of genjutsu, it isn't easy to block them. Even my Genjutsu Block formula isn't guaranteed to block one Genjutsu,' Naruto internally sighed, 'the best way to dispel genjutsu is still to actively rouse your chakra, or to avoid them altogether.'
Before, he thought that jinchuriki were immune to genjutsu. But after meeting Yagura, he suddenly realized the true power of genjutsu. It wasn't that jinchuriki is immune to genjutsu. It was only that jinchuriki rarely faced genjutsu strong enough that their bijuu cannot dispel it.
'Hmm, or is it that a jinchuriki is vulnerable to genjutsu if the bijuu is also under a genjutsu?'
Suddenly, Naruto came to a realization and his mind came up with a multitude of plans...
"Naruto Uzumaki, we meet again," Itachi politely greeted.
'Plans can be pushed until later. For now, we have a battle to fight. And a fight to win,' Naruto narrowed his eyes in determination.
"Everyone, you go and deal with Hidan and Kakuzu. I will deal with Itachi and Kisame," Naruto ordered. If it was before, he would've asked for Gaara or Zabuza's help. But now that he had access to Kurama's chakra directly, he wanted to see his limits.
Yagura was a jinchuriki like him, and it was hard to gauge his power against normal shinobi like Itachi and Kisame. 'Hmm, S-rank criminals aren't exactly normal, but whatever.'
"You are sending a bunch of randoms to fight out the zombie combo?" Kisame suddenly chimed in. Itachi looked at him wordlessly before averting his eyes back to Naruto. No one knew, but a suspicion silently bloomed in his mind about his partner.
'It seems that Kisame and I might get along better soon,' Itachi thought and chuckled to himself.
Hearing Kisame's remark, Naruto became relieved for a bit as he interpreted Kisame's intentions. 'Zombie combo, huh? Zombies are known for being undead and eating human flesh. I doubt they'd eat someone while in the midst of battle, so undead it is. What's the matter with being undead?'
Naruto pondered when he remembered Kakuzu's age.
'He's too old to be alive. If he was normal that is. Immortality, is that it?' After coming up with the most likely truth in a few seconds, Naruto squinted and hid his left hand behind his back. His group paid attention to his hand as he conveyed a secret message by making hand motions.
"I suspect that Kakuzu and the grey-haired man are immortal," was what his message meant.
After Naruto conveyed his message, Kisame chuckled and looked at Hinata, "You have a close-combat expert, I see. Well, I've got to wish you good luck. My comrade, Hidan, can win any battle and win one wound. I don't think they stand a chance, so why don't you battle them instead, nine-tails jinchuriki?"
"Hey, what the fuck?!" Hidan yelled at Kisame, "What's your deal?! Why'd you suddenly turn into a whiny bitch? AH?!" Kisame practically reveal all his trump cards. Of course, he was mad.
"Oh?" Kisame raised his brows. "Sorry, I didn't mean to blabber. I just found it hilarious that a bunch of nobodies is trying to fight our mighty zombie combo," he gave a nonchalant smile to Hidan. Apart from Hidan, neither Itachi nor Kakuzu said anything about Kisame's remark.
They both didn't care about it. Itachi simply didn't care, while Kakuzu wasn't affected by Kisame's information spill.
Hearing the sudden praise, Hidan's anger died down for a bit as he gave a thoughtful nod, "Hmm, well I guess it doesn't matter either way," Hidan mumbled as his own brain came up with the best answer to justify Kisame's unreasonable act.
Kisame grinned at Hidan's acceptance and gazed back at Naruto. Naruto took it as a signal to start the fight. He didn't intervene in the little chat between the Akatsuki so as to help Kisame not blow his cover.
"Ninjutsu: Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto muttered as four copies of him appeared on the battlefield. The clones and the original charged toward Kisame and Itachi, while the rest of Naruto's group charged at the immortal duo of Akatsuki.
Meanwhile, the fire dragon above them roared at the giant rock golem as it charged toward it. The rock golem glared at the dragon and gave it a mighty punch, which the dragon nimbly dodged as it coiled around the golem's body.
The golem didn't care as its body slowly melted and used its hands to grip the dragon's body and tried to rip it in two. The dragon, feeling more than half of its body, a.k.a. its chakra supply, slowly being torn from its head, where its core was, roared in anger. Then, its body glowed brightly as the golem's hands began to melt at a rapid rate, though the dragon also began to shrink.
As the battle of colossal took place, the battle between shinobi raged on.
Naruto kept most of his attention on Itachi the entire time, as Kisame was held back by his clones. He was fighting Itachi alone, for the simple reason of it being stupid.
'I hope he thinks I'm a clone.'
Since he was a "clone," he acted fearless, but not domineering to force Itachi to use his mangekyou sharingan. Naruto roughly learned about how the special set of eyes is gained and its weakness thanks to Kurama, but he didn't know the exact details.
'I just know that it's a bad idea to use it willy-nilly,' Naruto's gaze turned dark, 'and that you had to kill a loved one to obtain them,' he thought.
"Itachi Uchiha. I'm a big fan of you," Naruto thought and didn't add his true words. 'I want your genjutsu so I can use it against Orochimaru. Then, all of his secret scrolls and records are mine!'
Though his heart was palpitating in joy, his face and body were as relaxed as they could be. "I wonder how my genjutsu knowledge compares against yours, traitor of the Uchiha clan," Naruto said. Itachi didn't react to any of his words.
Naruto shrugged and made a scroll appear in his hands.
"Fuinjutsu: Demonic Judgment, 50th layer."
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